Mr G Dixon v Sheila Farey, and 3 others — 2019

Mr Dixon was employed by Bedfordshire Golf Club as part-time General Manager from 2009 and also held the Head Professional role and the driving range licence. The Club had considered separating the GM and HP roles from late 2016, but the tribunal found that when the matter was revisited in late 2017 and early 2018 the Club did not properly consult with Mr Dixon and instead moved towards removing him from the GM role while keeping him in the HP role.

The tribunal accepted that a temporary interim management arrangement could in principle amount to a redundancy situation, but found that was not the real reason for this dismissal. It found that the Club’s intention after the interim period was to recruit a new full-time General Manager, and that the Board’s papers and emails showed a settled plan to exit Mr Dixon personally from the GM role and to make the recruitment criteria such that he would not meet them. The tribunal also found that when Mr Dixon proposed giving up the HP role and the licence, the Club gave no real consideration to keeping him as GM.

The tribunal held that the consultation and appeal processes were not genuine and that the dismissal was not within the band of reasonable responses under s.98(4) ERA 1996. It concluded that the principal reason for dismissal was to remove Mr Dixon from the GM role, not redundancy or some other substantial reason, and that there was no redundancy situation at the effective date of termination because the Club intended to appoint a new dedicated GM once matters had settled.

The unfair dismissal claim therefore succeeded. The tribunal did not determine remedy at this judgment, recording that there was insufficient time to deal with remedy and that Polkey arguments would be addressed at the remedies hearing listed for 19 December 2019 if necessary.